Swedish hapkido practitioner

7/17/2012 8:06am,

Hello everyone,

The fancy yellow sign in my browser suggested that I made my first post over here and I guess introductions are in order.

I am a 22 year old would-be martial artist from Sweden and have trained in hapkido for almost 8 years now. I've found it to be an enjoyable hobby and has helped me develop an interest in health and fitness, not to mention it has provided a great social environment.

As I have moved from my hometown due to studies, I've started looking into other MAs as I want to become a more complete martial artist. I've tried out alot of different styles in the past, though mostly TMAs, which were rarely big on full-contact sparring and competative fighting.

Recently I've started to seriously look into MMA and the styles commonly represented in it. I can recognize alot of the techniques in the UFC, K1, etc, from what I've been taught in hapkido, but also that my profiency with them are under-developed due to a lack of sparring.
My current goal is finding a good environment to learn new skills, and develop present ones, in an alive and competative manner.

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I see you didn't ask for a recommendation, but I'm gonna give some anyways: Judo to replace hapkido. Supplemented with Muay Thai or even Kyokushin, since I hear that's easier to find over in EU than it is here.

Otherwise just find an MMA gym and enjoy, they're all fun MAs in their own right.

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However, I've started to wonder about kyokushin. When I took a few trial lessons at the local kyokushin club I was told I had to pass my first belt test and train for one semester before being allowed to spar. In the end I decided it wasn't worth it, as I wasn't able to tell what I could expect the club to offer and didn't really want to spend time practicing stances and striking the air. I can do that in hapkido.

However, I've started to wonder about kyokushin. When I took a few trial lessons at the local kyokushin club I was told I had to pass my first belt test and train for one semester before being allowed to spar. In the end I decided it wasn't worth it, as I wasn't able to tell what I could expect the club to offer and didn't really want to spend time practicing stances and striking the air. I can do that in hapkido.

Maybe I am simply better off with muay thai for striking?

I have no personal experience with KK, so I can't say for sure if that's normal, but I wouldn't say that definitely counts out that school as a solid dojo. Kyokushin sparring is bare knuckle, and therefore I wouldn't be surprised if you have to wait a while to jump in, for your own safety.

I do however have experience with Muay Thai, and it's always a solid choice. They'll have you sparring in no time. If you can find a cheap enough gym nearby, and you go to a couple of classes and like the feel, go for it.

Hard to go wrong with MT or Judo.

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In the end I decided it wasn't worth it, as I wasn't able to tell what I could expect the club to offer and didn't really want to spend time practicing stances and striking the air. I can do that in hapkido.

It's reasonable to have someone train "dead" for a good while before having them spar. There are lots of habits that need to be in place before one should be bareknuckle sparring with intensity. How to take a hit, how to tuck your chin, etc.

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Just to clarify, I do not question the reason or the validity of the kyokushin club for making the new students wait, though I am questioning if it is suiting my needs at the moment.
Right now I have a pretty good selection of MAs to choose from, but I expect having to move to a smaller town for work within a year which could limit my training opportunities.
That's why I want to spend as much time as possible until then training full contact.
Judo seems to be avaliable pretty much everywhere over here, so that should not be a problem. Kyokushin though, while not entirely uncommon, I haven't seen as much of.

If muay thai get's down to the business a little faster than kyokushin, that is what I need right now, even if I feel more inclined to go with kyokushin in the long run.

In either case, I'll go and check out a few MT gyms when I get the chance!

Hapkido put me on the right path as well, I now train in BJJ and did a bit of judo. Judo and KK are good. You'll have an advantage due to your hapkido, but only a slight one.

That is nice to hear! Have you stopped doing hapkido alltogether since?

I've been sparring with friends from different styles (boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, karate) for a few years which has really been an eye-opener. The different training methods we were used to from our respective styles really became evident, even if alot of the techniques were similar.

The reason is that if the KK Dojo trains too much for competition they neglect headshots.
A lot of KK Dojo('s) glove up to train with headshots, but unfortunally also a lot of KK Dojo('s) don't, which will teach you the bad habit of dropping your hands during fights.

Don't get me wrong, Kyokushin and its offshoot are the best styles of Karate outthere, but in my personal opinion MT will give you a better stand-up fighting background.

It's also in Muay Thai that you have to train a certain time in the beginners classes before you can spar.
I had to train for 10 weeks in the beginners class (1h30 condition class on Monday, 1h technique and drills class on Friday) before I could join the advanced class were sparring was a part of the lesson. If you don't do that you set yourself up as the punching bag of the advanced class for a longer period.

Originally posted by Jiujitsu77

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Originally posted by Humanzee

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Originally posted by jk55299 on Keysi Fighting Method

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The real deadly:

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Kyokushin yes some schools forget about face punching look for a dojo that does sparring with that, in Kyokushin you will have a striking focused on bare-knucle fighting that I believe is a very good asset to have in SD situation, you will have lots of conditioning mostly focused on the torso and the legs. Knockdown fighting allows knees to legs, body, and face same with kicks but allows punchs and elbows to the body only, no clinching allowed. At least in my expirience MT devotes more time to sparring shields and focues mitten where Kyokushin practicioners must also do "karate stances" and kihon

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Welcome. I've seen some Hapkido videos around. It looks like a cross between Taekwondo and Ju-Jutsu. Very cool.

Thank you for the welcome.
Your observation is not very off. Hapkido is said to have it's roots in daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu and it seems to be a Korean trademark to add acrobatics and taekwondo-esque kicking to their modern MAs, which can make them quite crowd-pleasing, if you are into that stuff.

It's also in Muay Thai that you have to train a certain time in the beginners classes before you can spar.
I had to train for 10 weeks in the beginners class (1h30 condition class on Monday, 1h technique and drills class on Friday) before I could join the advanced class were sparring was a part of the lesson. If you don't do that you set yourself up as the punching bag of the advanced class for a longer period.

I guess it's hard to avoid spending most of the first semester re-learning basics regardless of the art then, but I am guessing it is well needed, as you say.

I will try out a few MT classes before making a decision.
Thank you all for your advice and sharing your experiences!

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Thank you for the welcome.
Your observation is not very off. Hapkido is said to have it's roots in daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu and it seems to be a Korean trademark to add acrobatics and taekwondo-esque kicking to their modern MAs, which can make them quite crowd-pleasing, if you are into that stuff.

I guess it's hard to avoid spending most of the first semester re-learning basics regardless of the art then, but I am guessing it is well needed, as you say.

I will try out a few MT classes before making a decision.
Thank you all for your advice and sharing your experiences!

Although I think it's common for most schools in any striking martial art to have you wait a little bit before you go to full contact, high-intensity sparring, it might be worth asking whether or not they have any medium contact continuous sparring to tide you over in the meantime. It's not necessarily a deal breaker if they don't have that, but it sounds like you probably want to get started punching people sooner, rather than later.